When you get 735 kills in a single season, most of them
blend together.

Maddie Bryant remembers certain ones, like the 1,000th
of her career, which she got against Forsyth Central on Sept. 7. And if any
others stick in her mind, it’s because of the plays that led to it.

“I think it’s because we had a perfect pass (or) perfect
set, so I know I had to get a kill off it,” Bryant said. “I didn’t want to let
my team down. I just remember the perfect sequences throughout it all.”

Bryant had one of the most productive seasons in county
history, with her kill total leading the county ranks by hundreds. That led to
a significant amount of attention and focus on Bryant, which the Georgia
Southern signee wasn’t necessarily comfortable with.

“Sometimes I don’t like being the center of attention, but I
just have to get used to it, because that’s the kind of sport volleyball is,”
Bryant said. “You get a big kill, a lot of attention is on you.”

“That’s just my personality. I’m more excited when other
people on my team do something than when I do something.”

North Forsyth outside hitter Maddie Bryant sends a hit past Lakeside-DeKalb blockers Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017.
- photo by Lily McGregor Photography
As Bryant fulfilled her individual goals and became more of
a star for the Raiders, she saw teams targeting her, testing her serve receive
game and sometimes putting three blockers on her.

“I was like, ‘I didn’t think I was that good,’” Bryant said.
“But I guess so.”

Bryant improved in multiple aspects of her game in 2017. She
had more kills, a better hitting percentage and almost twice as many digs as
she did in 2016. The team followed her lead and put up perhaps the best season
in school history, going 5-0 through the regular season area schedule and
reaching the state quarterfinals, where the Raiders lost to Newnan.

One of the team’s main goals was to win the area
championship, and while North’s loss to Lambert in the title game still stings
for Bryant, she’s satisfied with how the season went.

“A few practices in, I could tell that we were going to be
better than we have been the past few years,” Bryant said. “I felt like it was
going to be our best season, and I think it was.”

Bryant doesn’t know the exact role she’ll play at Georgia
Southern, but there’s one thing she knows will happen, at least during her
early years in Statesboro.